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sounding great LC! nothing is better than fresh snow on some blue wax on the 210's. Keep the reports coming, my E99's are dormant - injury situation is looking grim, could miss the rest of the season here

lilcliffy wrote:Started snowing after midnight- and steadily snowed until late morning. Got some bookwork done early after chores and then went out for a ski late morning- just as the snow was starting to change to ice pellets.

The conditions were amazing.

Since the ridiculous rainstorm, my steep terrain has been too weird, shallow, and refrozen to be properly enjoyed. But it has snowed a bit every day and the conditions on gentle to moderate terrain have truly been fabulous. I have been absolutely crushing miles over hill, valley, wood, glade, field, and stream- on my E99 Tours. The snow has been perfect for Swix Blue for days now. These skis have been so fast I feel like I can barely keep up with them!

Okay now I wish I lived where I needed a Vector & an E-99. I can't imagine what it would be like to cruise in tracks I made a week ago.

I wanted something shorter to have some fun in some farms around here. I thought about the Hoks, but I was interested in the OACs because they are a bit narrower and potentially better for going for a bit longer distances.

Will post a review on the OAC XCD ski soon- not terribly impressed so far...The Hok is astronomically better in deep snow, and the XCD is useless as a XC ski, unless you are a very light skier...

The conditions here in the hills are simply amazing- have been for weeks on end.

The sheer amount of continuous fresh snowfall is as good as it gets!

Have had many ideal powder days for my Annums- wicked floaty, smeary, XCD touring.

Had many E99 lighting tours in between big dumps.

We've gotten a good 50 cm this week alone and the snow is so deep and soft today that even my 195cm Annums are struggling on the flats and when climbing (still rock downhill)- they were suffering from the old pool-cover syndrome.

I went out later today with my 210cm Combat Nato- instead of the Annum- the Combat Nato was considerably better when XC skiing, climbing and breaking trail. The Combat Nato does not float as high as the Annum, but it is more stable in deep snow than the Annum...But- once up to downhill speed the Annum remains easier to turn...not that I cannot turn the Combat Nato...Hard to say which is better...As a XC ski, the Combat Nato is better...

FINALLY mounted my Koms tonight- out for their maiden ski tomorrow morning after chores! It has been snowing here for almost 24 hours straight, continuing through tomorrow...

The pursuit of XCD balance: cross-country AND down-hill skiing in the backcountry

It sounds pretty good over there Gareth. I was wondering who breaks the trails you ski. Are they you and other skiers, snowmobiles or something else?

Fish, I have about the same amount on the ground and my vectors are almost enough to stay on top. The top foot or so is dense fresh snow that fell this week. It was great for touring and turning(when you stayed on top). The next foot or so was more dense and mostly supportable. The bottom foot or so was rotten sugar snow. The problem was when the middle layer collapsed and I dropped a foot or more. This sucked for touring as it put you in over your knees and the worst thing was that you got no kick. For the down I was lucky that the vectors would rise up after breaking through which prevented some serious faceplants.

I would have preferred to use my powder boards, which would have made the touring and turning not only better but great, but I didn't want to deal with kick wax in the above freezing temps. I need a no wax ski 110mm underfoot or wider.

I break my own trails- have a passion for fresh untracked snow- plus, my local climate produces snow-showers most every day during the winter.

I do try to keep a track going on my 2 to 5km loops on our home woodlot, but even that usually has fresh snow on it every day.

During the workday, I mostly ski on our woodlot.

I tend to work from home as much as I can- I can often get in a longer tour even during the week.

The typical snowfall here is moisture-rich- we do not get deep dry powder snow very often.

This season- and last season- most of our snow accumulation has come from coastal Noreaster storms- loads of moisture and high winds consolidates these big dumps in real-time. Because we are inland and in the hills, each of these storms tends to finish with a few hours of soft snow- leaving a good six inches of softness on top of that consolidated storm snow.

Add to that are daily moisture-rich big flake snow showers (I am sure we got a couple of inches of that today alone) and I almost always have fresh snow to ski on.

That being said I rarely have the snow conditions that would warrant a true western-mtn powder board. All of my "deep snow" skis (Annum/Guide/Combat Nato/Kom/Storetind) offer enough flotation in our moisture-rich deep snow. What seems to matter more is flex. Any ski that I have that is too soft- and too narrow- flexes like a bow in our fresh deep snow- rendering it useless (e.g. Eon/E109/Epoch/XCD 10th Mtn).

The Combat Nato- for example, is not wide enough to be a "powder" ski- but at 210cm long, with its very longitudinally stable flex- the Combat Nato is a dream in our deep moisture-rich snow. The Annum/Guide is more fun when touring for turns in deep snow (my new Storetind and the Kom puts the Annum/Guide to shame BTW)- but, the Combat Nato is the bomb when the turn serves the tour in our deep snow.

Anyway- I love fresh untracked snow. Even on a workday, I will more often break a new track than ski in my track from yesterday.

The pursuit of XCD balance: cross-country AND down-hill skiing in the backcountry